The wind was a pulsing cold, it sent shivers down my back and made my teeth start chattering. The caravan had to keep moving, though, and I didn’t complain. I had grown to love the cold! Even if it did hurt my teeth to chatter so much. There isn’t anything as good as a good cold shiver after standing next to a bon-fire for a little bit after all! After tonight''s many celebrations near the burning party-man statue, I think we all enjoyed the cold. The children, the lil’ kelks they were, still didn’t have their manes yet so we kept them inside. Although, I had tried my best to be in two places at once, and give ‘em a good party too! Of course, no Crackleberry cider, didn’t wanna get the lil kelks all juiced up before they even had their manes. BUT, a crackleberry cake that I spiced up with extra sugar? That was fine. God I loved my little caravan. They were all family. I mean, I hadn’t really known anyone else my entire life as long as I had known my caravan!


    Not knowing anybody outside of my caravan was mainly because of the fact I was a Keleksai, and to be frank, nobody likes us, not the kingdom of Falamael. One of the funniest things in the world is how many people can be so stupid. Every. Single. Kingdom. Around Falamael has WAY worse laws against us Kelkasi. One time my uncle, Jingles, had been to Gerihal and the first thing he heard was some farmer screaming ‘Telki!’ to him. I mean, I’ve been called a Telki plenty of times, but not as the first thing in a place!


    I refuse to dwell in the bad though. Especially when I still have lil’ Kelks to take care of and cheer up in the wagons! I built small little party men out of sugar cubes, used some quick little alchemical tricks, and molded them into shapes, giving them to the kids. I told them that staying happy, eating plenty, and drinking their juice and stew would make their manes grow sooner and stronger. Seeing the happy little ones run around, as I gave them juices and candies — it reminded me of my own childhood. It wasn’t as good as what I was giving these little ones, and I was glad that they didn’t have to go through what I did as a kelk. The lonely and cold nights in the Telki Schools, the cutting of my mane, the mangling of my hands, it all still gave me shivers.


    I knocked myself back into the happy thoughts. Knowing that at least the kelks I am taking care of don''t have to deal with it. It comforted me. It made me smile again. I could feel the surge of magic, of life back into me. Thinking of the past is no way to live! So, I stopped thinking of the shakes of my life, and started admiring what I could see. The happy kelks running around, the laughter of both the kelks and my family outside with a party! Seeing the little kelks having an absolute blast gave me the confidence to head back out and make sure the festivities outside were a hoot too!


    I grabbed my 7-string Banjitar and began singing, dancing, and playing my banjitar. It was a good night, and one hell of a party, even for me! Loads of cider, looking back, probably a full barrel or two of crackleberry cider. I woke up the next morning and could barely stand without either my hooves or stomach giving out. I mean, after drinking that much, and partying that hard, who wouldn’t catch a hard case of morning fog. I forced myself up though, since the caravan had to keep moving, and it seemed we had stopped moving at some point. I got into the coach of the leading wagon, and started it up. Of course, with us being in less friendly territories even the most shnorcked up folks opted to pass out in the wagons rather than out in the fields. I peeked behind me, just to make sure, and sure enough, all the little kelks were still asleep as well. To the Toymaker himself, I promise that I will never let any harm come to those little ones.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    So, the day continued. The ropes tying each caravan wagon began to pull each of the wagons keythongs woke up and began to pull along. Eventually, after a couple hours each of the actual coach drivers woke up, and began to untie the ropes and drive the wagons themselves. Eventually, Liddle woke up and went to take his spot from me as well.


    He came up from behind me, opening the coach door of the wagon, and yawned, as he blurted out “Good mornin’’’ Thittlewood. Awake early aren’t ya.”


    I looked over, my face arced up into a large smile, there isn’t a face I would rather see more than his at the moment, as I chirped out, “You know me! Party and drink till the night’s gone and wake up before the griffins are out to eat! Aint a better time for doing that than the festival of bright doors, am I wrong?” I laughed, smiling just looking at his face.


    “You aren’t wrong, on anya that,” he smiled and yawned out as he hopped into his coach seat.


    His smile, it was comforting, it made my smile falter. It always did. My smile was always a smile that tried to say ‘Hey! I want to know everything about you, everything you like, everything you want, everyone you like spending time with. I admire you deeply, and want nothing more than to protect you.’ His smile was always just a smile that showed, ‘Life is good, you’re good.’ without any of the admiration, the intense spirit of curiosity, or the thousands of words I could put into words. Out of all the bad feelings I tend to dwell on, it''s that disconnect, that want for the same type of happiness between us, that I dwell on the most. I can deal with the pain in my hooves, I can deal with the flashbacks to the orphanage, I don''t know if I can exactly deal with the disconnect.


    Nonetheless, there isn’t a person I’d want to spend my time with more than Liddle right now. He had gotten me so far, treated me so well as a friend, that I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything but spend time. I felt that disconnect drift away as he lightly rallied up the keythongs and the caravan began to move faster. I got up, and went to leave the coach.


    He looked back, yawned for one more time, and gripped my hand. My whole mane frizzled up, and I could feel every single fiber of my being shot up with pure joy, as he squeezed my hand and said, “Take care of the Kelks ok? Why not get some music playing, there is a accordion in the closet, that should wake up the rest of the caravan,.” he didn’t let go of my hand as he looked at me, my pink mane covered my face as I blushed, and he began to say something again, “And hey, it’ll wake you up too,” he lightly chuckled as he


    I still wanted something more out of his hand squeeze, it wasn’t as passionately as I wished. It was still time spent with him. I snapped out of my admiration for him when I stepped


    “Yeah! Nothing better than a song to wake a girl up!” I whistled out


    I headed back inside and gathered up my 7 string Banjitar and accordion, and placed on my 1-man-band gear and began to string the banjitar with my teeth and play the accordion with my hands. The kelks began to wake up first, and I handed them their training accordions, and soon, a whole symphony of caravan music broke out. The sun was rising, the caravan was moving, and the magicians were baking! To spite them all, and even with everything, faith stood strong and we were still happy for the moment.